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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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MEASURES, NOT MEN. 



ILLUSTRATED BY 



SOXOS RSMAlLKS 



WON THE 



PUBLIC CONDUCT AND CHARACTER 



OF 



JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



" Unimpeached morality, practical talents, and republican simplicity of character, are indis- 
pensable qualifications ia the Citizen who is to be elected President of the United States." 

C(t!m Ohsener. 



COLLECTED PRINCIPALLY FROM PUBLIC DOCVMKV 1' 



BY A CITIZEN OF NEW-YORK. 



TSrefco=¥otft;: 

PRINTED BT E. B. CLAYTON, 64 PINE-STHEET 
Sold at the Bookstores. 

182S. 



MEASURES, NOT MEN. 



ILLUSTRATED BY 



SOME REMARKS 



UPON THE 



PUBLIC CONDUCT AND CHARACTER 



OP 



JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



" Unirapeached morality, practical talents, and republican simplicity of character, are indis- 
pensable qualifications in "the Citizen who is to be elected President of the United States." 

Calm Observer, 



COLLECTED PRINCIPALLY FROM PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



BY A CITIZEN OF NEW-YORK. 



3Srrto=¥orfe: /^ 



PRINTED BY E. B. CLAYTON, 64 PINE-STREET. 
Sold at the Bookstores. 

182.S. 



JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

In attempting to present to the American public, a brief 
sketch of the life and political career of the distinguished 
statesman, whose name stands at the head of this article, we 
are not insensible of the importance and responsibility of the 
task we have undertaken. Perhaps the political destiny of 
these United States will not be more distinguished by any 
other circumstance, from that of those other republics, which 
flash but a momentary splendour on the page of history, 
than by the wide extent of territory over which they stretch. 
In a representative republic, whose population spreads over 
twenty-four States, and is destined to cover a much greater 
number, a faithful delineation of the conduct and character 
of living statesmen, is one of the most important functions 
of a free press. To the great mass of the American people, 
those distinguished politicians, whose united talents con- 
stitute the political wealth of the republic, must of necessity 
be personally unknown ; yet, as all political power emanates 
directly or indirectly from the people, a correct knowledge 
of the conduct, character, and qualifications of those who 
have had a leading agency in the various departments of 
public service, is of indispensable importance to a judicious 
exercise of that great attribute of popular sovereignty, the 
elective franchise. Under such circumstances, we feel well 
warranted in the assertion, that, without the agency of the 
press, the republican form of government could not be prac- 
tically and beneficially extended, much beyond that contract- 
ed sphere, in which the people could derive their knowledge 
of public men from personal observation and acquaintance. 
In this country, therefore, we must resort to the journals of 
the day, those chronicles of the passing time, for an authen- 



4' 

tic record of those political measures, which reflect the cha- 
racter of the statesman who may have been instrumental in 
devising them. But the events of even a very short political 
life, are diffused over such a mighty and formless mass of 
newspaper detail, that they are quite inaccessible, not only to 
the great mass of the people, but even to those who have a 
more immediate agency in the transaction of public affairs. 
They are, of course, as unprofitable as the metal in the mine, 
until they have received a current form from the hands of 
the biographical compiler. These views show at once the re- 
sponsibility and the importance of our present undertaking. 
That responsibility we most sensibly feel. He who under- 
takes to write the life of a living statesman, is giving infor- 
mation in which the people are directly and immediately in- 
terested. He is, therefore, under the strongest obligations to 
give a faithful narrative of facts, and an impartial delineation 
of character. Under these impressions, the following sketch 
is presented to the public. We have collected the facts, by 
consulting such persons and documents, as for the last two or 
three years have fallen within the reach of our researches. 

John C. Calhoun, the present Secretary of War, is about 
forty-two years of age, and was born in the District of Abbe- 
ville, South Carolina. His father, Patrick Calhoun, emigra- 
ted from Pennsylvania before the commencement of the revo- 
lutionary war, and was one of the first settlers of the Upper 
Country, of the then Province of South Carolina. He was 
an active whig during our struggle for independence; and, it 
is believed, was a member of the Legislature of the State, 
under its different modifications, from the first organization 
of a revolutionary government, till his death. In consequence 
of this latter event, it devolved upon the mother of John C. 
to superintend his education. After a considerable conflict 
between maternal fondness and a sense of duty, she sent him 
from home to the Academy of the Reverend Dr. Waddel, 
where he laid the foundation of his classical and scientific 
attainments. Before he entered the grammar school, having 



had access to a good library, he became master of most of the 
ancient and modern historians. History was, indeed, his fa- 
vourite study ; and after he commenced his classical course, he 
would frequently steal an hqur from Virgil to devote to Plu- 
tarch, It is related of him by his schoolmates, that while at 
this Academy, he had an impediment or hesitancy in his 
speech, which, added to his unusual diffidence, rendered his 
prospectsof eminence asaspeakerquite unflattering. But his 
subsequent brilliant career as a parliamentary speaker, adds 
another proofto that furnished by the great orator of antiquity, 
that all minor obstacles will vanish before the persevering 
energies of a great mind. Having finished his preparatory 
studies, he became a member of Yale College, and graduated 
with much distinction, leaving behind him a high reputation for 
talents. In College he was distinguished for the power of in- 
vestigation ; and it is said, would never adopt any doctrine, 
until, by placingit in all its practical bearings, he obtained a 
kind of anticipated experience of its operation. He was most 
distinguished for his proficiency in metaphysics, mathematics, 
and what are usually denominated the precise sciences. These, 
better than any artificial system of logic, qualify the mind 
for profound and accurate reasoning. While in College, he 
manifested a great predilection for political inquiries; and it 
is said, the course of the lecture was sometimes suspended, by 
his friendly disputations with Dr. Dvvight, on the principles 
of government. Mr. Calhoun was one of the few republicans 
at that time in the College; and although the very name was 
in some degree odious, and exposed a young n)an to many 
disadvantages in his career of literary fame and distinction, 
he alwa3's maintained his opinions with that firmness and in- 
dependence, which has since characterized his conduct as a 
statesman. Notwithstanding his supposed political heresies, 
Dr. Dwight entertained a very high opinion of his talents, 
and foretold the political eminence which he would one day 
attain. 

In preparing himself for the practice of the law, he spent 



some considerable time in attending the lectures of Judge 
Reeve, at Litchfield, in Connecticut. During this time, he stu- 
died with great attention the character of the people of the 
north eastern section of the Union ; and it was probably 
the knowledge thus acquired, that enabled liim, during the 
darkest moments of our late contest with Great Britain, 
to contemplate without alarm the storm which lowered in 
that quarter of our horizon, and which some of our politicians 
looked upon as precursive of the approaching dissolution of 
the Union. He never doubted that the great body of citizens 
in New England were firmly attached to the Union. 

The violent opposition made in that section of the conn- 
try to the general govertnnent, he ascribed to the disappoint- 
ed ambition of the leading men, who saw that the sceptre of 
power had passed from their hands. This opinion is confirmed 
by the fact, that no sooner did the Hartford Convention un- 
furl even their dubious and equivocal banner of disunion, than 
they were deserted by the great mass of their former adherents. 

While at the law school, Mr. Calhoun was much dis- 
tinguished by his talent for extemporaneous debating. 
Such were his powers of rapid and lucid arrangement, that 
he would answer the desultory arguments of some half a do- 
zen speakers, in a speech of such logical and systematic com- 
bination, as would seem to indicate the most formal prepara- 
tion. At the bar, though he was never fond of the practice of 
law, he soon rose to the first grade of professional eminence. 
He appeared, however, to feel that he was not in his appro- 
priate element, and would frequently exert himself to break the 
shackles of an arbitrary and technical system, and expatiate 
in the wider field of reason and natural justice. Soon after 
he commenced the practice of the law, he was elected a 
member of tlie State Legislature. In this body, he soon be- 
came distinguished as a young man of uncommon powers of 
argument; and his comprehensive views, and disinterested 
principles, attracted universal confidence. From the usual 
character of the measures of a State Legislature, it will not 



be expected of us, to point out particularly those In which he 
took a leading- part. It will be sufficient to remark, in general 
terms, that upon all subjects, his views were those of a disin- 
terested politician. 

Although from the beginning a firm and decided republican, 
his principles were too national and elevated to embrace the 
narrow and selfish artifices to which political partisans too 
frequently resort. Intrigue he always detested, even in the 
members of his own party ; and we have frequently heard it 
remarked, that amidst the violence which characterized the 
measures of the leading men, when he came into the Legisla- 
ture, he stood aloof from their bickerings, pursuing the inde- 
pendent and erect course dictated by his own judgment. He 
seems, indeed, always to have disdained to be the follower of 
men, at the expense of principle. He had been but two years 
a member of the State Legislature, when he was elected a 
member of Congress. He tookhis^seat in this body, for the 
first time, in that eventful session, during which war was de- 
clared against Great Britain. To estimate the character and 
importance of that measure, it will be necessary to recur to 
the situation of the country at that time, growing out of her 
relations with Great Britain. It will be recollected, that in 
the year 1806, Great Britain declared a large portion of the 
continent of Europe to be in a state of blockade, although 
it was known to the whole world that she did not even pretend 
to apply an adequate force, to give that measure the character 
of a blockade, under the law of nations. In the spirit, and 
strictly within the principle of this first encroachment, the 
governments of France and Great Britain kept up a cross- 
fire of hostile regulations, which finally resulted in the anni- 
hilation of all that part of our commerce which we prosecu- 
ted with either of the powers at war, or their dependencies. 
By the British orders in council, our merchant ships, destined 
for the ports of France, or her dependencies, were liable to 
capture and condemnation ; and by the French decrees, they 
were liable to similar penalty, when destined for the ports of 



8 

Great Britain, or her dependencies. A glance at the map of 
the world will show, that tiiese lawless edicts had swept near- 
ly the entire mass of our commerce from the ocean. After 
a protracted course of negotiation, and of earnest, but ineflec- 
tual remonstrance on the part of our government. Congress, 
to test the sincerity of belligerent professions, and evince the 
spirit of forbearing moderation which actuated our councils, 
passed a law, by which the President was directed to open our 
occluded ports to that belligerent who should first repeal her 
unjust edicts, and keep them closed against the other, if 
she persisted in hers. This law induced France to with- 
draw her injurious decrees, but produced no effect upon Great 
Britain. 

In addition to the regulations injurious to our commerce, 
the national ships of Great Britain had been for years in the 
constant habit of impressing native American seamen from 
our merchant vessels, by the order of the British govern- 
inent, under tiie pretence of reclaiming British deserters. 
Thousands of our citizens had been torn tVom all the endear- 
ments of home, and consigned to slavery In the British 
ships of war, at the arbitrary discretion of British naval 
officers. 

Such was the tenure by which the American seamen 
held their freedom, and such the state of our relations 
with Great Britain, when Mr. Calhoun entered Congress. 
He was an able and decided advocate of the war ; and it is 
believed, that no member was more instrumental in bringing 
about that event, which fixed an important era in our na- 
tional history. He was Indeed of opinion, that the war ought 
to have been declared at an earlier period; and had de- 
cidedly disapproved of the restrictive system, in the extent 
to which it had been carried. As a mean of compelling 
foreign nations to do us justice, he esteemed it ineflicient; 
producing more than the privations of war, without exciting 
that tone of patriotic feeling, which a righteous war always 
produces, and which constitutes the moral energy of a 



nation. He believed that our long acquiescence in foreign 
wrongs, was rapidly sinking the spirit of the nation, and 
was likely to produce, to use his own language, " a sense 
of national inlieriority, the greatest of political evils." As 
chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations, he pre- 
sented to Congress the report, or manifesto, which, after 
reciting the wrongs committed on our commerce and seamen 
by Great Britain, recommended an appeal to arms. His 
views of the war, however, are more fully and distinctly 
given in the speeches delivered by him in Congress, on the 
various propositions which related to that measure. In 
answer to those who opposed the declaration of war, he 
admitted and deplored the fact, that we were not as well 
prepared as we ought to have been. But, appealing to Mr. 
Randolph, whose argument he was answering, he asked liim 
emphatically, whose fault it was, that due preparations had 
not been made for the storm, which had been so obviously 
brewing for many years, during which time, many of the 
gentlemen who now insisted that we are unprepared for war, 
had been members of the national councils f He conceived 
that the fact of their having been in the opposition, was no 
apology to the country for neglecting to propose what they 
now admitted to have been the duty of Congress. He be- 
lieved the voice of the people was decidedly for the war, 
a state of things, which ought to be an almost indispensable 
preliminary to the declaration of a war by such a government 
as ours. That while we were preparing the physical means, 
by levying taxes, and enlisting and organizing armies, there 
was danger of losing, what was incomparably more im- 
portant, that moral energy which was intimately connected 
with the existing tone of public feeling. In a popular war, 
a free people, abounding in resources, will never want the 
means to prosecute it. In discussing the causes of the war, 
he disdained to inquire which of the belligerents had first 
commenced the system of regulations injurious to our com- 
mercial rights. He denied the right of retaliating altogether. 

2 



10 

That doctrine involves the extraordinary position, that the 
annihilation of neutral rights, is a lawful mean of assailing 
an adversary. Admitting that France had made regulations, 
which we had acquiesced in, to the injury of Great Britain, 
yet, when Great Britain captured our vessels for that injury, 
she clearly resorted to force for redress, which is the very 
definition of war. And even admitting that the war was 
rightful on the part of Great Britain, was it compatible with 
the spirit, the honour, or the interest of the nation, tamely 
and unresistingly to receive the blows of an adversary ^ 
Posterity will learn, with shame and astonishment, that al- 
though Great Britain was waging a destructive war upon 
our commerce and seamen, there were men in the councils 
of this country, who maintained that there was no just cause 
of war with that nation ! On the subject of impressment, 
Mr. Calhoun contended, that the reclamation of deserters 
was a mere pretext on the part of the British ministry, and 
that their real object was to man their ships of war with the 
trained seamen of other nations. He appealed to authentic 
documents, to show that the subjects of Sweden, and other 
powers, had been impressed, where no mistake could possibly 
have resulted from similarity of language. He denied, 
however, that it was any justification of Great Britain, that 
she was honestly seeking her own deserters. It was a degra- 
dation of the sovereignty of the country, and a disgrace to 
her character, for a moment to permit a petty British officer 
to erect in our merchant ships a capricious and interested 
tribunal, to decide, without appeal, upon the fate and free- 
dom of an American citizen. Here, again. Great Britain 
assumed the right of being her own judge, and redressing 
her own wrongs, in a matter involving American rights, and 
was thus committing war upon our citizens as well as on our 
commerce. He would not descend to inquire how many of 
our citizens had thus been deprived of their birthright by 
lawless violence. Fixing the number at the lowest estimate, 
lie contended that the government was under the most solemn 



n 

obligation to resist the violence, and to wipe out the staiiji 
which it had fixed upon the reputation of the country. The 
character of that nation must be low indeed, which can 
descend to compare the freedom of her citizens with the 
price of defending it. 

Among the capital advantages which Mr. Calhoun antici- 
pated from the war, was the establishment of the national 
character. Foreign nations entertained the opinion that 
our government was not capable of sustaining the shock, 
and meeting the exigencies of war. In fact, so long had 
we submitted to foreign wrongs, that we began to doubt our 
own powers of resistance. This most unfounded and dan- 
gerous idea, was inculcated by many distinguished politi- 
cians in our own country. It was openly declared, from 
high authority, that we had not received any injury, and if 
we had, we were not capable of avenging it. Mr. Calhoun 
conceived it all important to our future security, to dispel 
this illusion from the eyes of foreign powers, by practically 
demonstrating our capacities for war, of which he never en- 
tertained a doubt. In tliis point of view, he considered the 
late war not less important than the war of the revolution. — 
The latter secured to us a free government; the former would 
prove to ourselves and the world, that it was adequate to 
all the purposes for which it was created, and would exist as 
a durable and glorious monument of the wisdom and pa- 
triotism of those who framed it. In fact, it has been the 
unceasing efibrt of Mr. Calhoun, ever since he has been in 
the national councils, to impress upon the nation the im- 
portant truth, that a government which has a character for 
imbecility, has no security against foreign aggression. It 
is in vain to rely on the force of reasoning, or the justice of 
other nations. All history is replete with proof, that nothing 
but power can command respect among nations ; and when a 
nation ceases to be respected, she begins to be insulted. 
The opinion entertained of us by foreign nations, therefore, 
is no unimportant matter. Actual power can only repel ag^ 



gression, but a character for power prevents it. It is truly 
gratifying to reflect on the efl'ect of the late war upon the 
American character in foreign countries. Before that event, 
an American could scarcely hold up his head in Europe; 
the name was almost synonymous with impotence and con- 
tempt. Since, it has been customary for Englishmen, on 
the continent, to assume the American name, to insure respect 
and attention. The government, which it was supposed 
would crumble before the first blast of war, is now the ad- 
miration of the world. The nation that, a few years back, 
had scarcely a national ship on the ocean, is now looked 
upon as the power destined to humble the naval glories of 
Britain, and snatch the trident from her grasp ! Such have 
been the effects of a war, which many distinguished men 
confidently predicted, would sink the administration, and 
ruin the country. During the whole progress of the conflict, 
Mr. Calhoun was one of its most ardent, firm, and perse- 
vering supporters. In the most gloomy hour of the contest, 
when the storm of invasion darkened our shores, and the 
fires of faction raged within, he stood at his post, fearless 
and inflexible, never at any moment despairing of the re- 
public. 

Mr. Calhoun has been the uniform advocate of a navy. 
When that measure was before Congress, he most heartily 
co-operated with his able colleague, Mr. Cheves, who was 
chairman of the naval committee, in carrying it through Con- 
gress. He esteems it the only species of force by wliich we 
can at once assail that power, with whom it will probably be 
our destiny to come most frequently in contact, and ef- 
fectually defend our extensive maritime frontier from the rava- 
ges of an invader. He deems it the appropriate armour of 
a free people, as it furnishes protection to the country, with- 
out endangering lier liberties. He also considers the navy 
as one of the ligaments which bind the union together. It 
is a power which the people look upon witliout jealousy. It 
is not likely, therefore, like the army, to be identified with the 



13 

party in power. Its brilliant achievments will furnish a stock 
of national fame, in which every section of the country will 
be anxious to participate. Thus the bond which common 
interest renders strong, is made indissoluble by common 
glory. 

The dethronement of the French Emperor, and the con- 
sequent change in the political and commercial relations of 
Continental Europe, gave rise to a bill repealing the embar- 
go and non-importation acts. This bill was reported by Mr. 
Calhoun, as chairman of the committee on foreign relations, 
and ably supported by him in argument. Adverting to the 
origin of the restrictive system, and the grounds upon which 
it had been heretofore sustained, he said, it was a pacific 
policy, arising from the extraordinary state of the world at 
the time it was adopted, and was of course a temporary, 
rather than a permanent policy. It originated at a time 
when every power on the Continent was arrayed against 
Great Britain, and no country in Europe was interested in 
the maintenance of neutral rights. The occlusion of all the 
ports of the continent of Europe, against Great Britain, gave 
to the restrictive measures adopted by this country, an ef- 
ficiency, of which they would be now deprived, by a revolu- 
tion which had thrown open to the commerce of Great Bri- 
tain all the ports of Europe, those of France excepted. He 
admitted that the restrictive S3 stem had been too far extend- 
ed, and said that if he had been in Congress when it was first 
adopted, he should have recommended war in preference ; 
but contended, that there would be no inconsistency on the 
part of the government, in abandoning a system Ibunded on 
a state of things which no lon^jer existed. He said, being in 
its origin a pacific measure, it had been continued, he con- 
fessed, not wiih his approbation, as a war measure : and de- 
rived its force, as a war measure, entirely from the exclusion 
of our enemy from the continent of Europe. " But now," 
said he, " most of the great powers of the continent are neu- 
tral as between the United States and Great Britain. We 



14 

were contending for the freedom of trade, and ought to use 
every exertion to attach to our cause, Russia, Sweden, Hol- 
land, Denmark, and all the nations who had an interest in 
the freedom of the seas." " The commercial policy of Great 
Britain, infrin^L'-ed," he said, " upon the rights of all neutral 
powers ; and if we would now and then open our ports and 
commerce to the nations on the continent, it would involve 
Great Britain in a very awkward and perplexing dilemma. 
She must either permit us to enjoy a lucrative commerce 
with those nations, or, by attempting to exclude them from 
our ports, by her system of paper blockades, she would force 
them to espouse the cause of America. The very option 
which would be thus presented to the British cabinet, would 
so embarrass them, as to produce a stronger motive for peace, 
on their part, than ten years' continuance of the present system, 
inoperative as it was now rendered by the change of circum- 
stances." This is a very imperfect sketcli of the views pre- 
sented by Mr. Callioun, in the discussion of the proposed re- 
peal of the restrictive system. The peculiar character of the 
question rendered unnecessary an inquiry into the general 
policy of the restrictive measures as a substitute for war. 
But although Mr. C. repelled the insinuation of French influ- 
ence, and vindicated the motives which led to the embargo, 
and non-importation acts, we plainly discover, that he thinks, 
they ought to have been temporary, and the mere prelimi- 
naries of war. 

Towards the close ofthe late war, Mr. Dallas, then Secretary 
of the Treasury, submitted to Congress his celebrated bank 
scheme, for relieving the financial embarrassments of the go- 
vernment. The two distinctive features of the plan were, that 
the capital ofthe bank should consist principalis of government 
stock, and that the bank should be required to make a loan 
of thirty millions of dollars to the government. Mr. Cal- 
houn was opposed to this scheme, and proposed another, by 
which the principal part of the capital was to consist of 
treasury notes, which would supersede the necessity, on the 



15 

part of tlie government, of obtaining a loan from the bank. 
It also contemplated a rigid enforcement of specie payments, 
and provided that the government should not have the power 
of suspending them. The principal argument urged in fa- 
vour of the scheme of Mr. Dallas, was its tendency to revive 
public credit, and thereby promote the facility of obtaining 
favourable loans. It was contended, that by rendering the 
government stock subscribable to the Bank, the price of that 
stock would be raised in the market, and the credit of the 
government would consequently receive a corresponding 
elevation. The speech whith Mr. Calhoun delivered on the 
relative merits of the two plans, was never published, which 
we extremely regret, as, from the description we have had of 
it, as well as from the effect it produced, it was probably one 
of the most luminous and irresistible arguments, ever deli- 
vered in Congress. He had been detained from Congress by 
sickness during the early part of the session, and when he arri- 
ved at Washington, Mr. Dallas' plan had been matured; yet 
his speech immediately revolutionized the opinion of the house 
on this important and difficult subject, and his substitute recei- 
ved a majority of votes; though from subsequent events, neither 
that nor Mr. Dallas' was carried into effect. We are howe- 
ver left to infer the views of Mr. Calhoun, partly from what 
we have heard, and partly from a consideration of the subject 
itself. His scheme, we conceive, had the advantage of the 
other, in effecting its immediate object more directly, more 
certainly, and on terms more advantageous to the government. 
By the privilege given to treasury notes of being subscriba- 
ble to the bank, those notes could have been in due time sold, 
above par, to the extent of thirty millions, which was the 
amount of the Bank capital, for which treasury notes were 
subscribable. Thus the government would have sold its pa- 
per at a considerable premium, instead of 12 per cent, dis- 
count, which had been the case in previous loans. 

We cannot perceive how Mr. Dallas' plan was calculated 
to increase the credit of the government. It is certain that 



16 

the stock of the government, then in circulation, would 
have constituted the capital of the bank. The plan then 
would have resulted in giving to ihose, from whom the 
government had already borrowed on very disadvantageous 
terms, the additional premium of the bank dividend. But, 
would this liave raised the credit of the government with 
future lenders? The ability of a government to obtain fa- 
vourable loans, depends entirely upon the strength of the 
assurance which the lender has, that the government will 
comply with its engagements. This assurance can be 
founded only upon good faith oiPthe part of the government, 
in relation to all previous contracts, and its capacity to com- 
ply with all future contracts. But good faith cannot surely 
require more than a compliance with previous contracts. 
Individuals who had loaned their money, at a very high 
rate, had no right, moral or legal, to expect an additional 
premium. It is perfectly obvious, therefore, that by insur- 
ing to previous lenders more than it had promised, which 
would have been efl'ected by Mr. Dallas' plan, the govern- 
ment could not increase its credit with future lenders. Now, 
Mr. Calhoun's scheme left the previous creditors of the 
government precisely where their contract had placed them ; 
and held out to future lenders, those privileges which the 
other scheme proposed giving to persons from whom there 
was nothing to expect, at least as the immediate result of 
the scheme. There can scarcely be a doubt upon the whole, 
that, as a scheme for raising money promptly and advan- 
tageously, Mr. Calhoun's was decidedly preferable to the 
other. But there was another point of view in which Mr. 
Dallas' plan was more objectionable. It proposed that the 
Bank should make a loan to the government of thirty mil- 
lions of dollars. It was this feature which excited the most 
serious alarm in the mind of Mr. Calhoini, and, we think, 
justly excited it. There is perhaps no proposition more true 
in bank economy, than that long loans are incompatible with 
specie payments. Recurring to the then state of the curren- 



i 



17 

cy, we have no hesitation in asserting-, that the projected 
bank, being bound by its charter to make a loan to the 
government, to the extent of three fifths of its capital, would 
have found it impossible to continue them. To suppose that, 
a bank which gives its notes payable on demand, for the 
paper of the government, payable at six or twelve months, can 
continue to redeem those notes with specie, is of all supposi- 
tions the most wild and extravagant. Thus would the only 
efficient instrument in the power of the government for re- 
storing the degraded currency of the country, have been con- 
verted into an engine for perpetuating that most enormous 
national evil. Thus would the government itself have been 
accessary to a state of things, which it was under the most 
sacred constitutional obligations to remedy. We think Mr. 
Calhoun was well warranted in the assertion, that no measure 
had ever been submitted to the considerationof Congress, like- 
ly to produce such deleterious effects upon the liberties of the 
country, as the bank scheme submitted by the secretary of 
the treasury. But the memory of that independent and virtu- 
ous statesman is not the less sacred on account of a single 
error, on a subject of great obscureness and difficulty ! 

During the session of Congress which immediately succeed- 
ed the termination of the war with Great Britain, a committee 
was appointed to take into consideration the state of the national 
currency. Of this committee he was nominated chairman. 
To restore the medium of exchanges from its disordered con- 
dition to a state of soundness, the committee recommended 
the establishment of a national bank. We believe it is to the 
able, indefatigable, and ceaseless exertions of Mr. Calhoun, 
that the country is indebted for the success of that important 
measure. The number of commercial interests and political 
prejudices which stood opposed to the establishment of a na- 
tional bank, rendered his task peculiarly difficult and delicate. 
In a speech of uncommon ability, he portrayed the effects 
of the existing state of the currency. He said the paper of 
the state banks was extremely depreciated, varying in degree 



according to the section of the country in which it circulated. 
This, he contended, was a deep stain upon public and pri- 
vate faith, which ii behooved Congress to wipe away before 
it became indelible. If the remedy were not thus applied, 
the disease, he feared, would acquire such strength, as to defy 
the powers of the general government. The constitutional 
power of Congress to regulate the currency, a power of the 
utmost national importance, was, in point of fact, usurped by 
some two hundred and sixty banks, responsible to no power 
for their issues, and impelled by their thirst for gain, to a 
course of the most ruinous extravagance. There were not in 
the vaults of the banks more than fifteen millions of dollars 
in specie, and yet they had two hundred millions of their pa- 
per in circulation. He said that the quantity of circulating 
bank paper had, within five or six years, increased from eigh- 
ty or ninety, to two hundred millions, producing a constant 
depreciation in the value of money, unsettling the value of 
every thing else, and destroying the relative rights of the 
different classes of the community. The laws regulating 
the current coin, he said, were a mockery of legislation, when 
the excessive issues of bank paper had banished gold 
and silver from the country. To the suspension of specie 
payments, on the part of the state banks, he ascribed the ex- 
isting derangements of the currency. He said the banks 
had undertaken to do a new business, uncongenial with their 
nature, in making long loans to government, a practice whol- 
ly inconsistent with specie payments. Those who believed 
the existing state of things would cure itself, believed what 
was in the nature of things impossible. The banks were 
making large dividends, of from 12 to 20 per cent., and the 
effect of resuming specie payments, would be the immediate 
reduction of these extraordinary profits, for a time, to almost 
nothing. Banks must change their nature, before they would 
concur in doing what it was their interest to prevent. He 
proceeded to show that the banks had the ability to resume 
specie payments, if they had the disposition. If they would 
consentaneously begin to dispose of their public stock, to call 



19 

in their notes tor the treasury notes in their possession, and 
moderately curtail their discounts, he conceived they would 
be able to redeem their notes with specie. After withdrawing, 
by the sale of part of their stock and treasury notes, twenty-five 
millions of their own notes from circulation, the rest would be 
appreciated nearly to par, and they would still have fifteen 
millions of disposable stock to send to Europe for specie. 
The only difficulty, that of producing concert, he said, it was 
the business of Congress to surmount. A national bank, 
paying specie itself, would have a tendency to produce a 
general resumption of specie payments, both by its influence 
and example. Such an institution would also enable the 
general government to resort to measures for coercing specie 
payments, which would be otherwise impracticable. The lead- 
ing measure of this character would be, to deprive the banks 
refusing to pay specie, of all the profits arising from the busi- 
ness of the government, by prohibiting deposits with them, 
and refusing to receive their notes in payment of dues to the 
national treasury. This was as far as he was willing to go 
at present; but if the banks persisted in their present course, 
Congress would be under the necessity of resorting to mea- 
sures of a deeper tone. Having thus pointed out the remedy 
of what he conceived to be the most deep seated and alarming 
evil that ever existed since the foundation of the government, 
he appealed to Congress, as the guardians of public faith, to 
interpose their power, and rescue the nation from the impend- 
ing danger ! In vain had the constitution provided for the 
equal distribution of the burdens of taxation, when one sec- 
tion of the country paid its taxes in a medium thirty per cent, 
less valuable than that in which other sections paid theirs. This 
was an effect calculated to jeopardize the union itself. He 
conjured Congress, by all the considerations which the 
character and destmies of the country could suggest, to ap- 
ply the remedy then in their power, with firmness. Such is 
a meager sketch of the speech of Mr. Calhoun, which made 
so deep an impression upon Congress, that the bank bill pass- 
ed by a considerable majority. 



20 

^V'hether we consider the immediate effects of the bank, or 
its permanent influence on the state of the currency, it must 
be admitted to be an institution of the highest national im- 
portance. It has, notwithstanding the unskilful management 
of its first directions, realized, thus far, the great objects for 
which it was established. It has compelled the state banks 
to embrace one of two alternatives ; either to resume and 
continue specie payments, or to close their operations. Thus, 
in a short time, spurious and depreciated paper will be ban- 
ished from circulation, a medium of commerce substituted in 
its place, as uniform in its value as it is practicable to estab- 
lish. It has been urged, as a complaint against the national 
bank, that it has not furnished a medium of equal value in 
every part of the union. To require this of the bank, is to 
require what its advocates never promised, and what every 
person who understands the subject, knows to be impossible. 
A bill redeemable in silver at Philadelphia or New- York, 
must, if the course of exchange is not favourable, upon the 
obvious principles of commerce, be less valuable at New-Or- 
leans than at the place of issue ; because the holder of the bill 
at New-Orleans, though absolutely certain of getting silver 
for it, must pay the expense of transporting the silver. And 
the depreciation will be precisel}' in proportion to the expense 
of transportation. In fact, the experience of the bank is 
conclusive on the subject. The first direction attempted to 
redeem, at each of the branches, the bills of all the others. 
This produced the utmost derangement in the distribution of 
the capital of the bank. The bills of the southern and wes- 
tern branches were carried, by the current of exchange, to 
the northern branches, and there presented for payment. 
The embarrassments resulting from such a state of things, are 
too obvious to need explanation. But we believe the clamours 
which so loudly assailed the bank, have in a great degree 
subsided The extravagant speculators, who have been ar- 
rested in their course, have still the infatuation to call for a 
suspension of specie payments, and an indeftnite issue of bank 



21 

jjaper. But tlie sober, lionest, and intelligent part of the 
community, look upon those advocates of the paper system, 
as men, under the influence of a species of derangement, and 
out of the reach of reason, argument, or experience. 

To a statesman who takes a comprehensive view of the ac- 
tual state of things in the United States, the necessity of such 
an institution as the national bank, must be almost self-evident. 
Whether it were not better that the circulating medium should 
consist wholly of the precious metals, is no longer a question 
open for discussion. 

Banks have become so intimately incorporated with the 
various interests of society, that it only remains for the gene- 
ral government to exercise over them such a control, as will 
secure the national currency from ruinous derangement. 
Without such a control, no language can convey an adequate 
idea of the embarrassments in which the finances of the govern- 
ment would be perpetually involved, as well as the whole of 
the commercial transactions of the country. Each state is in- 
terested in having a depreciated currency, because it can the 
more easily pay its taxes and debts to the general government, 
in such a currency. The United States have immense bodies 
of land, which, if judiciously disposed of, will lighten the bur- 
den of taxation, for a long series of years. But will 
it not be the obvious interest of those states, whose citizens 
make the largest purchases of the public lands, to permit 
excessive issues of bank paper, that the debts they owe to the 
general govirnment may be paid off in a depreciated me- 
dium. Experience has also shown, that those seaports where 
the circulating medium is most depreciated, engross the prin- 
cipal part of the importing business. If, for example, the 
currency of Maryland should be thirty per cent, less valuable 
than that of Massachusetts, the Boston merchant will find 
his interest in making Baltimore his port of entry ; because 
he can pay the imposts with little more than two thirds of 
the intrinsic amount he would have to pay at Boston. Thus, 
interest would prompt the importing and land purchasing 



^2 

states, to run the race of depreciation, each contending lor 
the foremost rank. And in this contention they would receive 
a powerful stimulus from the banks themselves, who are cer- 
tain to get rich if they can receive interest for their notes, 
when they are not bound to pay them, which is the plain Eng- 
lish of suspending specie payments. The above are mere 
instances to illustrate the frauds which would be committed 
on the general government, and which it could not possibly 
resist, but by the agency of the national bank. It re- 
Cjuires no great sagacity to foresee, that such a state of things 
would produce collusions extremely dangerous to the union. 
So deeply was Mr. Calhoun impressed with these views of the 
subject, that he laboured day and niglit, in the house, and out 
of it, during the progress of the bank bill, to communicate his 
impressions to the members of Congress. His views were so 
exclusively national, and so obviously disinterested, that he 
finally triumphed over the private interest and political opinion 
with which he had to contend. When the feelings and the in- 
terest of the moment shall have passed away, and posterity shall 
pronounce an impartial judgment on that measure, it will be 
sufficient glory for an American statesman, to have his name 
identified with the national bank. 

During the same session in which the bank question was 
decided, the discussion of the direct tax was, by common con- 
sent, selected as the occasion of entering fully into the ques- 
tion, of what ought to be the policy of the United States in 
time of peace. The speech which Mr. Calhoun delivered on 
that occasion, is not surpassed by any that we have ever read, 
either of ancient or modern times. It is, in our opinion, a 
perfect model of parliamentary speaking. The political 
views presented are profound and accurate, and are enforced 
with all the power which truth possesses, when accompanied 
with an elevated dignity of sentiment. The course of policy 
which is recommended, if steadily pursued, cannot fail to car- 
ry the United States to the high and happy destinies, for 
which Providence seems to have created them. 



23 

Speaking of the policy whicli ought to be pursued in re- 
lation to other nations, he said, " it is the duty of all nations, 
especially of one whose institutions recognise no principle 
of force, but appeal to virtue for their strength, to act with 
justice and moderation ; with moderation approaching to for- 
bearance. In all possible conflicts with foreign powers, our 
government should be able to make it manifest to the world, 
that it has justice on its side. But," said he, " as we ren- 
der justice to all, so should we be prepared to exact it from 
all. Our conduct should not only be moderate and just, but 
as high minded as it is moderate and just. In the policy of 
nations," he said, " there were two extremes; one extreme in 
which justice and moderation may sink into feebleness; 
another in which that lofty spirit, which ought to animate all 
nations, particularly free ones, may mount up to military 
violence. These extremes ought to be equally avoided ; but 
of the two," he considered " the former far the most danger- 
ous and fatal. There were," he said, " two splendid ex- 
amples of nations which had ultimately sunk by military 
violence — the Romans in ancient times, and the French in 
modern. But how numerous were the instances of nations 
sinking into nothingness through imbecility and apathy ! 
They had not indeed struck the mind so forcibly as the in- 
stances just mentioned, because they had sunk ingloriously, 
without any thing in their descent to excite admiration or re- 
spect." lie considered the extreme of weakness, not only the 
most dangerous in itself, but as that extreme to which the peo- 
ple of this country are peculiarly liable. " The people," 
said he " are high minded, but they are blessed with much 
happiness, moral, political and physical ; this operates on the 
disposition and habits of this people, something like the effects 
attributed to southern climates ; it disposes them to plea- 
sure and inactivity, except in the pursuit of wealth. The 
nature of our foreign relations," he said, " increased our in- 
clination to a feeble policy. We have indeed dangers to 
apprehend from abroad, but they are far oflT, at the distance 



24 

of three thousand miles, which prevents that continued dread 
they wouhl excite, if in our neighbourliood. Besides, we can 
have no foreign war that we should dread, but with Great 
Britain ; but a war witli her breaks in on the whole industry 
of the country, and affects all its private pursuits." Advert- 
ing to the probable policy of Great Britain, he said, " she 
was the most formidable power in the world, while the United 
States were the most growing ; most rapidly improving in 
those very particulars in which Great Britain excels." 

He asked, " if it could be reasonably expected, that the 
greater power would permit the less to attain its destined 
greatness, by natural growth, without interruption.^ He feared 
not. But admitting the councils of that nation to be govern- 
ed by a degree of magnanimity which the world had never 
witnessed, and he was warranted in saying never would, 
might not some unforeseen collision involve us in war with 
that power ^ I am sure," said he, " future wars with Great 
Britain are not only probable, but they will certainly take 
place. Future wars," he feared, with the honourable speaker, 
" future wars, long and bloody, will exist between this coun- 
try and Great Britain. He lamented it, but would not close 
his e^'es on future events, and forfeit the high trust reposed in 
him. You will have," said he, " to encounter British jealousy 
and hostility in every shape. As far as she can, she will dis- 
grace every tiling connected with you. Her reviewers, her 
paragraphists, and travellers, will assail you and your institu- 
tions, and no means will be left untried to bring you to con- 
temn yourselves, and be contemned by others. But," said he, 
" I thank my God, they have not the means of effecting it 
which they once had. No; the late war has given you a 
mode of thinking and acting, which forbids the acknowledg- 
ment of national inferiority, the greatest of political evils. 
Had we not encountered Great Britain, we should not have 
had the brilliant points to rest on, which we now have. We, 
too, have now our heroes and illustrious actions. If Britain 
lias her Wellingtons, we have our Jacksons, our Browns, and 



25 

ft 

our Scotts. If she has her naval heroes, we have them not less 
renowned, for they have snatched the laurel from her brow. 
It is impossible that we can now be degraded by comparisons. 
He then proceeded to consider the preparations which policy 
dictated. The extent of our preparations should be gradu- 
ated, with reference to the character and capacity of Great 
Britain ; a nation, said he, which excels, in means, all nations 
that now exist, or ever did exist, and, besides great moral re- 
sources, intelligent and renowned for masculine virtues. He 
considered the navy as the first object of attention; it was 
a species of force peculiarly adapted to our situation. Where, 
he asked, was Great Britain most vulnerable .'' In her commerce 
and navigation. There she is not only exposed, but the blow is 
fatal. There is her strength — there is the secret of her power. 
After enforcing the policy of increasing our naval force by 
a variety of practical viewsand illustrations, he proceeded to 
consider the military peace establishment, which he deemed 
small enough. " I know," said he, " the danger of large 
standing armies, and that the militia is the true force ; that 
no nation can be safe at home and abroad, without an effi- 
cient militia. But the time of service ought to be extended, 
to enable them to acquire a knowledge of the duties of a 
camp, and let the habits of civil life be broken. Your de- 
fence," said he " ought to depend, on the land, on a regular 
draft from the body of the people. It is thus, in time of war, 
the business of recruiting will be dispensed with, a mode of 
defending the country every way uncongenial with our repub- 
lican institutions ; uncertain, slow in its operations, and ex- 
pensive, it draws from society its worst materials, introducing 
into our army, of necessity, all the severities which are exer- 
cised in that of the most despotic government. Thus com- 
pounded, our army in a great degree loses that enthusiasm 
by which citizen soldiers, conscious of liberty, have ever been 
animated. All free nations of antiquity intrusted the defence of 
the country, not to the dregs of society, but to the bodyofciti- 

4 



26 

zeus ; lience that heroism, which modern limes may admire, 
but cannot equal." 

" I know," said he, " that I utter truths unpleasant to those 
who wish to enjoy liberty, without making the efforts neces- 
sary to secure it. It had been said by some physicians, that 
life was a forced state ; the same might be said of freedom. 
It required efforts ; it presupposed mental and moral qualities 
of a high order, to be generally diffused in the society where 
it existed. It mainly stood upon the faithful discharge of 
two great duties, which every citizen of proper age owed the 
republic ; a wise and virtuous exercise of the right of suf- 
frage, and a prompt and brave defence of the country in the 
hour of danger. The first symptom of decay had always 
appeared, in the backward and negligent discharge of the 
latter duty. Large standing and mercenary armies then be- 
came necessary; and those who were not willing to render the 
military service essential to the defence of their rights, soon 
found, as they ought to do, a master." He then proceeded 
to recommend the establishment of a system of roads and 
canals ; but as he subsequently gave that subject a distinct 
discussion, we shall barely mention it here, as falling within 
liis general summary of the policy of the country. He also 
adverted to the policy of encouraging domestic manufac- 
tures, not with a view to increase the national wealth, for he 
admitted that industry left to itself would most effectually 
promote that object, but as a means of defence during war. 
The principal encouragement, he conceived, should be given 
to those branches of domestic industry which provide the 
materials of clothing and defence. He also pointed out the 
necessity of fortifying the weak points of the coast, particu- 
larly the mouths of the Mississippi and the Chesapeake. He 
observed, in relation to the finances, that it was unwise to de- 
pend entirely upon imports, as the character of the national 
industry was rapidly changing. While a nation is entirely 
agricultural, depending for supply on foreign markets, its 
people, said he, may be taxed, through its imports, almost 



27 

to the amount of Its capacity. Foreign commerce was, how- 
ever, daily bearing a less proportion to the national wealth, 
from the increase of manufactures. The financial resources 
of the nation would therefore daily become weaker and weak- 
er, if we did not resort to other objects than our foreign com- 
merce for taxation. Besides, he contended, that it was im- 
possible to prepare a system of internal taxation in time of 
war, without great embarrassment. Convince the people, said 
he, that such measures are necessary, and they will maintain 
them. Already they go far, very far, before this house, in 
energy and public spirit. If ever measures of this description 
become unpopular, it will be by speeches here. Are any willing 
to lull the people into false security .'* The subject, said he, is 
grave; it is connected with the happiness and existence of the 
country. He sincerely hoped Congress were the real agents 
of the people, brought together, in the language of the consti- 
tution, not to consult their ease and convenience, but the ge- 
neral defence and common welfare. The measures he had 
proposed involved, no doubt, great expense ; they required con- 
siderable sacrifices on the part of the people. But were they 
on that account to be rejected ? We may dispense with 
the taxes — we may neglect every measure of precaution, 
and feel no immediate disaster ; but in such a state of 
things, what virtuous, what wise citizens, but must look 
on the future with dread .'' The road, said he, that wisdom 
points out, leads up the steep, but leads also to security and 
lasting glory. The love of present ease and pleasure, 
that fatal weakness of human nature, has never failed, in in- 
dividuals or nations, to sink them to disgrace and ruin. On 
the contrary, virtue and wisdom, which regard the future, 
which spurn the temptations of the moment, however rugged 
their path, end in happiness. Such, said he, are the univer- 
sal sentiments of all wise writers, from the didactics of the 
philosophers, to the fictions of the poets. They agree that 
pleasure is a flowery path, leading off among groves and 
meadows, but ending in a gloomy and dreary wilderness. 
Tt is my wish, said he, to elevate the national sentiment, to 



28 

that which every just and virtuous mind possesses. No 
fort was needed to impel us the opposite way ; that mig 
be too safely trusted to the frailties of our nature. This r 
tion, said he, is in a situation, similar to that in which one 
the most beautiful writers of antiquity paints Hercules in 1 
youth ; he represents the hero as retiring into the wildern< 
to deliberate on the course of life he ought to pursue. T\ 
Goddesses approached hiui, one recommending a life of es 
and pleasure, the other of labour and virtue. The he 
adopted the counsel of the latter, and his fame and glory a 
known to the world. May this nation, the youthful Hercuh 
possessing his form and muscles, be inspired with his sen 
ments, and follow his example. 

During the session of 1816-17, Mr. Calhoun proposed 
set apart and pledge, as a fund for internal improvement, tl 
bonus and United States share of the dividends of the natio 
al bank. On that question, he displayed the ability and ze 
which have invariably characterized his efforts, on all gre 
national subjects At peace with all the world, and abouni 
ing in pecuniary means, in the present state of party ar 
sectional feelings, to what, said he, can we direct our resourc 
and attention, more important than internal improvement 
What can add more to the wealth, strength, and political pro 
perity of our country ? After explaining the manner in whit 
the contemplated improvements would promote the nation: 
wealth, he said there were higher considerations whyCongrc! 
ought to take charge of the subject. If we were only to cor 
sider the pecuniary advantages of a good system of roads an 
canals, it might, indeed, admit of some doubt, whether the/ 
ought not to be left wholly to individual exertions; but whe 
we come to consider how intimately the strength and polit 
cal prosperity of the republic are connected with this subjee 
we find the most urgent reasons why we ought to apply oi 
resources to them. In many respects, he said, no country < 
equal population and wealth possesses equal materials < 
power with ours. The people, in muscular power, in hard 



29 

jnterprising habits, and in lofty and gallant courage, are 
surpassed by none. In one respect, and, in his opinion, in 
)ne alone, are we materially weak ; we occupy a surface pro- 
ligiously great in proportion to our number. The common 
itrength is brought to bear, with great difficulty, on the point 
Tienaced by the enemy. In the recent war, how much did 
ve suffer for the want of them. Besides, the tardiness, and con- 
;equential inefficacy of our military movements, to what an 
ncreased expense was the country put, for the article of 
ransportation alone .'* It was not in this respect alone that 
oads and canals add to the strength of the country ; our pow- 
:r of raising revenue, in war, depends mainly upon them. In 
vnr, we must principally depend on internal taxes. What, 
hen, is the result ? The taxes are raised in every part of this 
.'Xtensive country uniformly ; but the expenditure must, in 
ts nature, be confined principally to the scene of military 
tperations. This drains the circulating medium from one 
)art, and accumulates it in another, and perhaps in a very 
listant one. Unless it can return through the operation of 
rade,the parts from which the constant drains take place must 
iltimately be impoverished. Commercial intercourse is the 
rue remedy for this weakness ; and the means by which that 
s to be effected, are, roads, canals, and the coasting trade. 
)n these, said he, combined with domestic manufactures, does 
he moneyed capacity of this country, in war, depend. With- 
lut them, not only will we be unable to raise the necessary 
upplies, but the currency of the country must necessarily fall 
ato the greatest disorder ; such as we lately experienced. 

But on this subject of national power, said he, what can 
<e more important than a perfect unity in feelings and senti- 
lents .'' And what can more powerfully tend to produce it, 
ban overcoming the effects of distance ? One hundred years 
go, the most profound philosophers did not believe it pos- 
ible for such an extent of country to enjoy a system of free- 
cm. But we have not only realized what they supposed 
upossible, but such is the happy mould of our government. 



so 

that much of our political happiness draws its origin from 
the extent of our republic. It has exempted us from most of 
the causes which distracted the small republics of antiquity. 
Let it, however, be for ever kept in mind, that it exposes us to 
the greatest of all calamities, next to the loss of liberty ; and 
even to that, in its consequence, disunion. We are great, and 
rapidly, he was about to say fearfully, growing. This was 
our pride and our danger ; our weakness and our strength. 
Little does he deserve, said he, to be intrusted with the liber- 
ties of this people, who does not raise his mind to these truths. 
We are under the most imperious obligations to counteract 
every tendency to disunion. The strongest of all cements 
is, undoubtedly, the wisdom, justice, and above all, the modera- 
tion of this house ; yet the great subject on which we are de- 
liberating, in this respect, deserves the most serious consider- 
ation. Those who understand the human heart best, said he, 
know how powerfully distance tends to break the sympathies 
of our nature. Nothing, not even dissimilarity of language, 
tends more to estrange man from man. Let us then bind our 
country together with a good system of roads and canals. 
Let us conquer space. The mail and the press, he said, were 
the nerves of the body politic. By them the slightest im- 
pression made on the most remote parts, is communicated to 
the whole system ; and the more perfect the means of trans- 
portation, the more perfect and true the vibration. Advert- 
ing to the great natural and political advantages we enjo}', 
he said, we might raise our eyes to a most splendid future, if 
we only act in a manner worthy of those advantages. If, 
however, neglecting them, we permit a low, sordid, selfish, 
and sectional spirit, to take possession of this house, this happy 
scene will vanish. To legislate for our country, said he, re- 
quires not only the most enlarged views, but a species of self- 
devotion, not exacted in any other. In a country so exten- 
sive, and so various in its interests, what is necessary for the 
common good, may be apparently opposed to the interest of 
the particular sections. It must be submitted to as the con- 



31 

dition of our greatness. But were we a small republic ; were 
we confined to these ten miles square, the selfish instincts of 
our nature might in most cases be relied on, in the manage- 
ment of public afl'airs. 

Having completed our review of the leading measures in 
which Mr. Calhoun acted a conspicuous part, while a mem- 
ber of the national legislature, we now proceed to consider 
him on a new theatre. He was appointed Secretary of War 
towards the close of the year 1817. It was a subject of sin- 
cere regret among many of his friends and admirers in vari- 
ous parts of the Union, that he accepted of this appointment. 
It was conjectured that those brilliant powers, which had 
rendered such signal services in the national legisla- 
ture, would find no congenial employment in the formal 
routine of an ofiice. But we now see that a truly great mind, 
will impart its own character to every thing around it. He 
has displayed a versatility of talent, which seems to qualify 
him for any station. In the war department, though, at the 
time of his appointment to it, he cannot be presumed to have 
possessed much practical acquaintance with its duties, sud- 
denly we behold order rising out of confusion, light out of 
darkness. We behold a mind, remarkable for its compre- 
hensiveness of view, devising a most perfect system for the 
orderly and prompt despatch of official duty in detail. He 
has in tact communicated to the department of war, an im- 
portance which it was not supposed to possess. Instead of 
being buried in the voluminous rubbish of his office, as some 
anticipated and predicted, his talents fill a much larger space 
in the public eye, than they ever did before. Within the 
very short period, during which he has filled the war depart- 
ment, he has given to it such an organization, as connected 
with the army, that an efficient system of responsibility is 
established, in all the branches of military service. This 
rigid system of control, over those officers to whom the dis- 
bursement of public money, and the disposal of public pro- 
perty, is confined, is of the utmost importance in preventing 



32 

wasteful extravagance in the military expenditures. The 
general arrangements which have been made, in relation to 
the supply, distribution, and employment of the army, have 
been such, as at once to promote its health, morality, com- 
fort, and utility. The attention of the Secretary of War, 
has also been actively directed to the great and important 
duty, of projecting and executing the " general defence" of 
the country, by fortifying our maritime frontier, extending our 
posts Off the Indian frontier, and opening those military roads, 
so indispensable to the economy, promptness, and efficiency 
of military movements, in time of war. In short, he has im- 
parted new life to the army, and such activity to the opera- 
tions, for the permanent defence of the country, as will, in 
due time, secure our vulnerable points against foreign ag- 
gression, and our interior frontier from the bloody depreda- 
tions of savage warfare. Since he has been in the war de- 
partment, he has presented a number of very able and 
interesting reports to Congress. We propose to close this 
narrative, with a brief review of the principal of these, as they 
will more fully convey his views, on the various subjects to 
which they relate, than would be otherwise practicable. 

On the 5th of December, 1818, he submitted to the House 
of Representatives, a report on the subject of Indian trade. 
This document is written with great ability, and renders a 
subject, in itself dry and unattractive, extremely interesting. 
Its investigations are profound, lucid, and philosophical, and 
its sentiments highly becoming the character of an American 
statesman. At tlie same time that the rights and interests 
of the United Slates are regarded, a humane attention is be- 
stowed on the rights and ir)terests of the savages. He re- 
commends the abolition of the factories established by the 
government, and that the trade be opened to individual en- 
terprise, under regulations adapted to the situation, local 
and civil, of the tribes with whom it should be prosecuted. 
For those tribes in the immediate vicinity of our settlements, 
he recommends the appointment of a superintendant, to be 



33 

attached to the war department, who shall grant licenses to 
citizens of the United States, of good moral character, to trade 
with the aforesaid tribes. That the traders shall annually 
pay for such license a sum not less ihan 100, nor more than 
500 dollars, according as the President shall prescribe. That 
the licenses should be granted to trade at specified stations, 
which should not be changed but with the superintendant's 
approbation ; and that the trader should give bond, with a 
heavy penalty, to obey the regulations which should be made 
for the government of that trade. The reason given by the 
Secretary for requiring the payment of a considerable sum 
for a license, is, that it would diminish the number of petty 
traders, and throw the trade into the hands of a few traders 
of considerable capital, upon whom the government would 
have a stronger hold, and over whom the superintendant could 
exercise a more eflectual supervision and control. It is not 
of so much importance to the Indians, to obtain their supplies 
a few cents cheaper, as that they shall be protected from the 
frauds and impositions to which their ignorance and weakness 
would expose them, if not protected by the government. He 
conceived that large capitalists would also be deeply interest- 
ed in preserving peace, as war would break up their arrange- 
ments ; and would also be interested in promoting industry 
among the Indians, as, from this source, must be derived the 
returns for their merchandise. By rendering the trading 
houses stationary, each would form the nucleus of an Indian 
settlement ; and by giving greater density and steadiness to 
their population, ideas of separate property would be introdu- 
ced, and their ultimate civilization hastened. " The neighbour- 
ing tribes," says he, " have in a great measure ceased to be 
objects of terror, and have become objects of commiseration. 
The time seems to have arrived, when our policy towards them 
should undergo an important change. They neither are, in 
fact, nor ought to be, considered as independent nations. Our 
views of their interest, and not their own, ought to govern 
them. By a proper combination of force and persuasion, oi 



34 

punishments and rewards, they ought to be brought within the 
pales of law and civilization. Left to themselves, they will 
never reach that desirable condition. Before the slow ope- 
ration of reason and experience can convince them of its su- 
perior advantages, they must be overwhelmed by the mighty 
torrent of our population. Such small bodies cannot, and 
ought not to be permitted to exist in an independent condition 
in the midst of civilized society. Our laws and manners ought 
to supersede their present savage manners and customs. 
Beginning with those most advanced in civilization, and sur- 
rounded by our people, they ought to be made to contract 
their settlements witlun reasonable bounds, with a distinct 
understanding that the United States intended to make no 
further acquisition of land from them, and that the settle- 
ments reserved, are intended for their permanent home. The 
land ought to be divided among families, and the idea of in- 
dividual property in the soil carefully inculcated. Their an- 
nuities would constitute an ample fund ; and education, com- 
prehending as well the common arts of life, as reading, 
writing, and arithmetic, ought not to be left discretionary 
with the parents. Those who might not choose to sub- 
mit, ought to be aided in forming new settlements at a 
distance from ours. When sufficiently advanced in civiliza- 
tion, they would be permitted to participate in such civil 
and political rights, as the respective states, in whose limits 
they are situated, might safely extend to them." After en- 
forcing the policy and humanity of civilizing the bordering 
tribes, he concluded his remarks in relation to them by saying, 
" A deep conviction of the importance of the subject, and a 
strong desire to arrest the current of events, which, if permit- 
ted to flow in their present channel, must end in the annihilation 
of those who were once the proprietors of this prosperous 
country, must be my apology for this digression." 

He then proceeds to recommend the establishment of an 
incorporated company, for prosecuting the fur and peltry 
trade with those more remote and savage tribes, which oc- 
cupy the immense regions of our territory, extending west- 



35 

ward to the Pacific Ocean. It requires, he conceives, the 
concentrated elForts of such a company, combined with the 
extension of our military posts up the Missouri and Missis- 
sippi, to secure, adequately, that important trade to ourselves, 
and maintain our influence over the Indians, against the in- 
trusive and incendiary efforts of the British fur companies to 
the north. To retain those tribes in peace, it is important 
not only to exclude foreigners from our limits, but to obviate 
the inflammatory tendency of individual rivalry, operating 
without the law, upon the dispositions of savages, at once 
fierce and ignorant. " If this course shall be pursued," he 
says, " the most valuable fur and peltry trade in the world 
will be ours ; accompanied with a decided influence over the 
numerous and warhke tribes inhabiting those extensive re- 
gions. The mere objection, that it would create a monopoly, 
ought not to outweigh so many reasons. In fact, absurd as 
commercial monopoly would be, where law and authority 
exist to repress the mischievous effects which might spring 
from unbounded rivalry ; just in the same degree would it be 
wise to carry on the trade under consideration by an incor- 
porated company. A nation discovers its wisdom, no less 
in departing from general maxims, where it is no longer wise 
to adhere to them, than an adherence to them under ordi- 
nary circumstances ; in fact, it evinces a greater effort of 
reason. The first advancement of a nation is marked by the 
establishment of maxims that are deemed universal, but 
which further experience and reflection teach to be only ge- 
neral, admitting of occasional modifications and exceptions." 
A few days after the above report was presented, Mr. Cal- 
houn submitted to the House of Representatives, a report on 
the army. The first question he discusses, is the expediency 
of reducing the peace establishment of the army. He proves 
the inexpediency of the reduction, by comparing the present 
peace establishment with those of 1802 and 1808 ; which he 
shows to have been greater than the present, considering the 
great increase of our territory, wealth, and population ; and 



36 

the extension of our military posts on tlie western frontier, so 
necessary to protect our border citizens from the vengeful 
and desolating warfare of their savage neighbours. Any 
apprehensions which might be entertained of the army, scat- 
tered as it is, over such a mighty surface, and bearing so 
small a proportion to the population of the country, savoured, 
he conceived, more of timidity than wisdom. He next pro- 
ceeded to consider the propriety of reducing the officers, 
particularly of the staff. This, too, he thought unwise. The 
great number of our posts, in proportion to our army, render 
it necessary that our staff should be relatively larger than is 
requisite in European armies. He conceived, that no part of 
the military organization required more attention than the 
staff; in every service it was invariably the last in attain- 
ing perfection. In peace it should receive a perfect organi- 
zation, and the officers be trained to method and punctuality; 
so that, at the commencement of a war, it would be only ne- 
cessary to give it the necessary enlargement. With a de- 
fective staff, our military operations must be carried on under 
great disadvantages, and, at the beginning of a war, expose 
us to great embarrassments, losses, and disasters. 

In discussing the necessity of an enforcement of responsi- 
bility and economy in the administration of the army, he 
said, " here all savings are real gain, not only in a moneyed, 
but in a moral and political point of view. An inefficient 
administration, without economy or responsibility, not only 
exhausts the public resources, but strongly tends to contami- 
nate the moral and political principles of the officers charged 
with the disbursements of the army." He then showed, that 
the organization of the war department, was nearly perfect in 
this respect, every department of the army charged with dis- 
bursements, having its proper head responsible for its admi- 
nistration. He said, " that the principal losses had been sus- 
tained by the want of accountability in those charged with 
the care and management of the public property. Every ar- 
ticle of public property," he said, " ought to be in charge 



37 

of some person responsible for it. Heretofore, great laxity 
had prevailed in this respect, and returns of public property 
had rarely been exacted." 

" On the qvsality of the ration," (which he next proceeded 
to consider,) li e said, " the health, comfort, and efficiency of 
the army mainly depended. All human efl'orts must, of ne- 
cessity, be limited by the means of subsistence. Food sus- 
tains the immense machinery of war, and gives the impulse 
to all its operations ; and if this essential be withdrawn, even 
for a few days, the whole must cease to act." He then pro- 
ceeds to point out such alterations as had been made in the 
quality of the ration, to secure the health and comfort of the 
army. Adverting to the plentiful mode of living, to which 
the poorest of our citizens are accustomed, and which renders 
them less capable than the people of most countries to sus- 
tain mere privations, he says, " there is something shocking 
to the feelings, that, in a country of plenty beyond all others, 
in a country which ordinarily is so careful of the hippiness 
and life of its meanest citizens, its brave defenders, who are 
not only ready, but anxious to expose their lives for the safe- 
ty and glory of their country, should, through a defective 
system of supply, be permitted almost to starve, or perish by 
the poison of unwholesome food, as has frequently been the 
case. Moreover, nothing, he conceives, adds more to the 
expense of military operations, and exposes more to disasters, 
than unwholesome supplies of food. The principal changes 
which had been made in the ration, were the substitution, 
twice a week, of fresh meat for salt ; the substitution, in the 
southern division, of bacon and kiln-dried corn, to a certain 
extent, for pork and wheat flour, and the increase of the ve- 
getable part of the ration, with a view to which, orders had 
been given, at all the permanent posts, to cultivate a sufficient 
supply of garden vegetables for the use of the troops ; and 
at the posts remote from the settled parts of the country, the 
orders had been extended to the cultivation of corn, and the 
supply of the meat part of the ration, both to avoid the ei- 



38 

pcnse of transportation, and to secure, at all times, a supply 
within the posts themselves. The spirit part of the ration, 
as a regular issue, he thought, should be dispensed with. 
It both produces, and perpetuates, habits of intemperance, 
destructive alike of the health, and moral and physical ener- 
gy of the soldiers. If the spirits were only issued occasion- 
ally, when great efforts were necessary, he conceived, that 
important benefits would result from it, while its noxious and 
deleterious effects would be avoided." 

On the subject of the establishment of a commissariat, with 
which the report closes, he says, the defects of the mere 
contract system are so universally acknowledged by those 
who have experienced its operation, in the late war, that it 
cannot be necessary to make many observations in relation 
to it. Nothing can appear more absurd, than that the suc- 
cess of the most important military operations, on which the 
fate of tke country may depend, should ultimately rest on men 
who are subject to no military responsibility, and on whom 
there is no other hold than the penalty of a bond. When 
we add to this observation, that it is often the interest of the 
contractor to fail, at the most critical juncture, when the 
means of supply become most expensive, it seems strange that 
the system should have been continued for a single campaign. 

As subsidiary to the permanent defence of the country, 
Mr. Calhoun has been uniformly a zealous advocate of mili- 
tary schools. In a report which he submitted to Congress 
on that subject, he suggests, as an argument for the extension 
and improvement of those schools, that, in the high state of 
improvement which the art of war has now attained, the fate 
of battle depends mainly upon the skill of the officers. To 
form an able general, is now a work of much time, stud}', 
and experience, whereas, among the great nations of antiquity, 
so simple was the machinery of war, that a competent com- 
mander might, on an emergency, be taken from the ranks. 
So easy was it to get a general among the Romans, qualified 
for commanding, that a Consul, after serving one year, was 



39 

not re-eligible. But at present all the sciences contribute 
their aid to that of war. It is the intellect which plans, more 
than the hand which executes, that now turns the tide of vic- 
tory. If, therefore, we have a sufficient number of able officers, 
with the excellent materials for soldiers which our popula- 
tion furnishes, we can have an army promptly prepared for 
any emergency. When we consider the habits of our peo- 
ple, immersed in gainful pursuits, and habitually neglectful 
of military duties, the necessity of giving to our military 
school the extension and improvement recommended by the 
Secretary, will be still more apparent. 

The last report, of which we propose to give a brief sum- 
mary, is that which he submitted on the 7th of January, 1819, 
on the establishment of roads and canals, with a view to mili- 
tary operations. This is one of the most able and masterly 
state papers we have ever read. We here behold a great 
mind filled with the magnitude of the subject, elevating its 
views to the splendid destinies of this rising republic, and in 
directing a policy worthy of that republic and of those des- 
tinies. It seems to us impossible for any American to peruse 
that document, without being fascinated with the views pre- 
sented in it. Our country is the last, and only refuge of 
freedom. In the old world, her mansions are desolate, and 
her altars are stained with the bloody offerings of despotism. 
The hopes of mankind are centered in America, and the po- 
litical destiny of nations measurably depends on our conduct 
and example. It is our first great duty as a nation to defend 
our happy homes, the blessed abodes of freedom, from foreign 
aggression ; whether it be founded in ordinar}' motives, or in 
hostility to the principles of our government. Our next duty 
is to pursue a course of policy so national and elevated, as 
to promote our true happiness and glory. Thus shall we 
command the respect, even of the nations who hate us for our 
happiness, and give to the cause of freedom an ascendenc}' 
in the opinions of mankind. Under these circumstances, how 
flattering to the manly pride of an American, to witness the 



40 

operations of the active, bold, and comprehensive genius of 
such a statesman as Mr. Calhoun, in projecting those noble 
schemes of national improvement and defence, which, if ex- 
ecuted, must remain lasting monuments of the safety, happi- 
ness, and glory of our country. The Secretary commences 
his report by briefly adverting to the general political ad- 
vantages of a good system of roads and canals, independent 
of their importance in a military point of view. 

But leaving these more general views, he proceeds to show 
the peculiar importance of such a system to the United States, 
with a view to military operations, from the geographical and 
political situation of our country. Our ph3'sical power is 
very small, when compared with the immense extent of our 
territory, circled as it is, to a very great extent, by a maritime 
frontier exposed to the incursions and ravages of an invading 
foe. When, in addition to this, we consider that our institu- 
tions, maxims, and modes of thinking, are all unfriendly to 
large standing armies, and that our principal reliance must 
be on the militia, to avert and roll back the torrent of inva- 
sion, the necessity of good military roads and canals, for ra- 
pid marches, and prompt concentration, becomes doubly ap- 
parent. The experience of the late war, says the Secre- 
tary, proves, in the present state of our internal improve- 
ments, the delay, the uncertainty, the anxiety, and the exhaust- 
ing effects resulting from frequent draughts on the militia. 
The facts are too reoent to require details, and the impres- 
sion too deep to be soon forgotten. As it becomes a wise 
nation to profit by experience, he conceives, that the govern- 
ment is under the most sacred obligation to prevent, by a 
timely and judicious application of the national resources, a 
recurrence, in future wars, of a state of things so calamitous. 
In all military preparations, he conceives, that our attention 
sliould be especially directed to the eastern, northern, and 
soutliern frontiers. As all our military efforts growing out 
of a European war, must be directed towards one of these, 
those roads and canals which would enable the government 



41 

cheaply and promptly to concentrate its forces on their vul- 
nerable points, are, in a military view, of most importance. 
Beginning with the eastern frontier, he says, it extends from 
the St. CroiK to the St. Mary's, a distance of about two 
thousand one hundred miles, and is studded with our most 
populous cities, the depots of the wealth and commerce of the 
country. " Against a line, so long, so weak, so exposed, and 
presenting such strong motives for depredations, hostilities, 
the most harassing and exhausting, may be carried on by a 
naval power; and should the subjugation of the country 
ever be attempted, it is probable that against this frontier, 
facing Europe, the seat of the great powers of the world, 
the principal efforts would be turned." To a navy, and a 
judicious and strong system of fortification, he thinks, we 
should look for much of our security on this frontier; but 
the importance of good roads and canals, in drawing our 
forces from a distance to the point exposed, with celerity and 
cheapness, is not thereby diminished. To resist extraordi- 
nary efforts, aiming at conquest, should it ever be attempted, 
the resources of the whole community must be brought into 
action. For this purpose, troops must be marched, and mu- 
nitions of war transported, either along the line of the coast, 
or from the interior of the Atlantic States; or, should the 
occasion demand it, from the States west of the mountains. 
For the purpose of transporting our military means from the 
interior of the Atlantic States, directly to the east, the Secre- 
tary thinks, the numerous rivers which, at short intervals, in- 
tersect the range of country between the mountains and the 
ocean, and the great roads, through which the commercial 
operations of the country are carried on, aided by steam- 
boat navigation, will present great facilities. The improve- 
ment of these rivers and roads may be safely left to the 
States, and the commercial cities Immediately interested. 
" Very different," says he, " is the case of the great and im- 
portant line of communication, extending along the coast, 
through the Atlantic States. No object of the kind is more 

6 



42 

important, and there is none to which State or individual 
capacity is more inadequate. It must be perfected by the 
general government, or not perfected at all : at least, for 
many years. No one or two States have a sufficient inte- 
rest. It is immediately beneficial to more than half the 
States of the Union, and, without the aid of the general 
government, would require their co-operation. It is, at all 
times, a most important object to the nation ; and in 
a war with a naval power, is almost indispensable to our 
military, commercial, and financial operations. It may, in 
a single view, be considered the great artery of the country ; 
and when the coasting trade is suspended by war, the vast 
intercourse between the north and south, which annually re- 
quires five hundred thousand tons of shipping, and which is 
necessary to the commerce, the agriculture, and manufactures 
of more than half the union, seeks this channel of communi- 
cation. If it were thoroughly opened, by land and water ; if 
Louisiana were connected by a durable and well finished 
road with Maine, and Boston with Savannah, by a well es- 
tablished line of inland navigation, for which so many facili- 
ties are presented, more than half the pressure of war would 
be removed. A country so vast in its means, and abound- 
ing, in its various latitudes, with almost all the products of the 
globe, is a world of itself; and with that facility of inter- 
course, to perfect which, the disposable means of the coun- 
try are adequate, would flourish and prosper, under the 
pressure of a war with any power." But confining his views 
merely to the military uses of the contemplated communica- 
tions, he states, that the line of inland navigation, which 
might be completed for sea vessels, for three millions of dol- 
lars, would deprive a naval enemy, in a great degree, of the 
great advantage he now has, by rapid transitions from point 
to point, on the coast, and making his attack before an ade- 
quate force can be arrayed to resist it. " In fact," says he, 
" the capacity for rapid and prompt movements and concen- 
tration, would be to the full, as much in our power. We 



43 

would have in most of the points of attack, a shorter line to 
move over, in order to concentrate our means ; and aided by 
steam boats, would have the capacity to pass it in a shorter 
time, and with greater certainty, than what an enemy, even 
with a naval superiority, would have to attack us." After 
sustaining these views by a variety of illustrative remarks, he 
proceeds : " By this speedy communication, the regular 
forces, with the militia of the cities and their neighbourhood, 
would be sufficient to repel ordinary invasions, and would 
either prevent, or greatly diminish, the harassing calls upon 
the militia of the interior. If to these considerations we add 
the character of the climate of the southern portion of the 
Atlantic frontier, so fatal to those whose constitutions are 
not inured to it, the value of this system of defence, by regu- 
lar troops, and the militia accustomed to the climate, will be 
greatly enhanced. Should this line of inland navigation be 
constructed, to enjoy its benefits fully, it will be necessary to 
cover it against the naval operations of an enemy. It is 
thought, that this may be easily eifected to the south of the 
Chesapeake, by land and steam batteries. That bay is itself 
one of the most important links in this line of communication ; 
and its defence against a naval force ought, if practicable, to 
be rendered complete." He then proceeds to consider the 
communications necessary, between the western states, and 
the Atlantic frontier. " Should a war of conquest," says he, 
" ever be waged against us, an event not probable, but not 
to be laid entirely out of view, the roads and canals necessary 
to complete the communication between the coast, and that 
portion of our country, would be of the utmost importance. 
The interest of commerce, and the spirit of rivalry, between 
the great Atlantic cities, will do much to perfect the means of 
intercourse with the west. But such great undertakings, so 
interesting, in every point of view, to the whole Union, and 
which ma}' ultimately become necessary for its defence, the 
general government, he conceives, having a deep stake in 
them, ought to bear a proportional share of the expense of 



44 

their construction. He next proceeds to give a detailed 
statement of the roads and canals which have been com- 
menced, and which will be necessary for the defence of the 
northern frontier, bordering on Canada and the Lakes. The 
principal of these are, a canal, or water communication, be- 
tween Albany, and Lake George, and Lake Ontario, and 
between Pittsburgh and Lake Erie ; and the road already 
commenced, from Pittsburgh to Sackett's Harbour. A 
water communication from Piltsbuigh to Lake Erie, would 
be of great importance, and the proximity of the navigable 
waters of the Alleghany River to the Lake, would render the 
execution cheap and easy. Pittsburgh, the great military 
depot of the country west of the Alleghany, would furnish 
military supplies, with facility, through this communication, 
to the upper Lakes. To these he adds, the military road, 
already commenced, from Detroit to Ohio, and a canal from 
the Illinois River to Lake Michigan. For the defence of 
the frontier of the Gulf of Mexico, though weak at present, 
nature, he says, has done much. The Bay of Mobile, 
and the entrance into the Mississippi, through all its chan- 
nels, are highly capable of defence. A military survey has 
been made, and the necessary fortifications have been com- 
menced, and will in a few years be completed. But the real 
strength of this frontier is the Mississippi, which is no less 
the cause of its security, than of its commerce and wealth. 
Its rapid current, aided by the force of steam, can in the hour 
of danger, concentrate at once an irresistible force. Made 
strong by this noble river, little remains to be done, by roads 
and canals, for the defence of the southern frontier. The 
roads from Milledgeville, and the Tennessee river, to New- 
Orleans, and the inland navigation, through the canal of 
Carondelet, Lake Ponchartrain, and the Islands along the 
coast of Mobile, covered against the operations of a naval 
force, are all the improvements he thinks necessary to pro- 
tect this distant and important frontier. 

He next proceeds to indicate the means by which the pro- 



45 

jected works may be executed. As the basis of the system, 
he recommends, that Congress should direct surveys and esti- 
mates to be made, for which duty, the army would furnish 
able military and topographical engineers, and it would be 
necessary only to associate with them, one or more skillful 
civil engineers, to aid in the construction of the proposed 
works : he recommends the employment of the army, to a 
certain extent, increasing their pay while thus employed. 
The propriety of employing the army, on works of public 
utility, cannot be doubted. A mere garrison life, is equally 
hostile to its vigour and discipline. Both officers and men 
become the subjects of its deleterious effects. " But," says 
he, " too much reliance ought not to be placed in the labour 
of the army, scattered as it must be, over our immense cir- 
cumference of frontier." The report closes by pointing out 
the state of the military roads, then in progress, which had 
been carried on by the soldiers, the only force in the power 
o( the war department. 

From the foregoing sketch of the state papers, which Mr. 
Calhoun, as Secretary of War, has presented to Congress, the 
best estimate can be formed of the ability and zeal, with which 
he has discharged the important duties of his department. 
His active mind seems to have pervaded and analyzed the 
great and complicated mass of our national interests, and 
to have formed almost a new creation, in the military depart- 
ment of the government. The subject rises into importance, 
under the action of his inventive powers, and nothing seems 
to have escaped the grasp of his genius. 

Mr. Calhoun is of a lean frame, and rather above the or- 
dinary stature ; his countenance is striking, and prepossessing ; 
his eyes are large, brilliant, and penetrating. A stranger, in 
a casual interview, would pronounce him to be no ordinary 
man. When engaged in conversation, his countenance is 
lighted up into unusual animation, indicating by its changes 
the various and rapid intellectual movements within. His 
manners are plain, unassuming and easy, the unaffected off- 



46 

spring of general kindness and good will. His colloquial 
powers are of the first order. The most ordinary topics be- 
come interesting, from the new and striking relations in which 
he presents them, and the most difficult are made plain, by 
his powers of simplification. The distinguished feature of 
his mind, is the power of analysis. This may be character- 
istically d en o nnnnf e cT tK e'tfil ves fi ga t i n g faculty of the human 
mind. It is by this, that the involved, and variously shaded, 
and associated masses of ideas, that form the most important 
subjects of human inquiry, are resolved into their simple ele- 
ments, and thrown into such lucid arrangement, as to evolve 
light from darkness. In short, it is the perfection of this 
power, which constitutes human genius, in the more enlarged 
acceptation of that term. Not that genius, which, soaring 
above the stubborn realities of things, dazzles, by its meteor 
splendours, only to increase the surrounding darkness; but 
that useful and protecting genius, to which nations look up for 
succour and for safety, in those rare and extraordinary combi- 
nations of their affairs, of which history furnishes so many ex- 
amples. To an American statesman, occupying a political the- 
atre of great novelty, and engaged in the active administration 
of a government, unprecedented in the recorded experience of 
mankind, such combinations must frequently occur. On 
such occasions, he will in vain consult his files for a prece- 
dent. Thrown upon the resources of his own mind, he can 
extricate himself from his difficulties, only by ascending to 
general principles, and applying them with skill and judg- 
ment to the circumstances of his affairs. Most of our politi- 
cal errors result from viewing things in the mass. It is thus 
that the splendid examples of nations, sanctify errors and 
abuses. The lights of iiistory are perfectly delusive to the 
statesman, who does not mark the distinctiojis as well as the 
analogies presented. In tiiis respect, the mind of Mr. Cal- 
houn is very happily organized and trained. It not only 
possesses the power of analysis in a very high degree, but 
from its ceaseless activity, has acquired a store of general 



4/ 

principles, on all occasions ready for use. Questions of the 
greatest difficulty and novelty, by the aid of this power of 
analysis, are subjected to the test of these general principles 
with promptness and facility. 

As a statesman, Mr. Calhoun is unquestionably one of the 
brightest ornaments of his country. To an ajfjent patriot- 
ism, he adds a stern and manly independencCj^iich disdains 
to calculate the consequences of discharging his duty. This 
firmness of purpose, this political intrepidity, results from 
conscious rectitude and full conviction. On all important 
subjects, he forms his opinions with deliberate caution ; but, 
when they are once formed, he adheres to them with a firm- 
ness, which nothing can shake, and pursues them with an 
ability and perseverance, which nothing can resist. He has, 
witii an unvarying consistency, pursued a course purely na- 
tional, regardless of sectional interests. He is not one of 
those timid and time-serving politicians, who mark and fol- 
low " the shiftinjjs or^tt^ popular breeze." Looking for- 
ward with a sagacious eye, to what will and must be the situ- 
ation of his countr}', he proposes measures adapted to that 
situation, before their necessitv h^s become generally appa- 
rent, anrj carries public opinion with him, instead of waiting 
to follow it in inglorious safety. In all questions, ^^ here 
sectional interests have been involved, he has invariably pur- 
sued a liberal and magnanimous policy. His political opi- 
nions and principles do not take their tone and temperament 
from the section of the country to which he is attached. 
Deeply impressed with the importance of preserving the 
Union, it has been his constant efibrt to inspire sentiments of 
self-devotion and nationality, in the various geographical sec- 
tions of the country. Beyond all doubt, our destinies are 
bound up in the Union, and will be bright or bloody, accord- 
ingly as that shall be preserved sacred or shattered in the 
storms of human passions. " Little does he deserve to be 
intrusted with the liberties of this people, who does not raise 
his mind to these truths." A devoted admirer of our repnb- 



48 

lican institutions, it is his great aim, to give durability to our 
form of government, and his great ambition to render appa- 
rent to the whole world, its decided superiority to all the 
other governments on earth. No statesman has studied its 
principles more thoroughly ; none has reflected more anxious- 
ly upon the means and measures necessary to preserve and 
perpetuate them. As a public man, he is distinguished for 
that inflexible integrity, and unsuspecting purity, which are 
the ornaments of his private character. In the midst of par- 
ty excitement, all have concurred in ascribing to him the 
most elevated, national, and disinterested principles of actions. 
Detesting the arts of intrigue and management, he pursues 
a course, open, undisguised, fearless, and undesigning. 

He is an attentive and philosophical observer of men and 
things, and places greater reliance on the knowledge thus 
acquired, than from any other source. He is an excellent 
judge of human nature, and has studied the character and 
genius of his countrymen with great success. In all great 
questions of national policy, he deems that the peculiar 
mould of our government, and the character of the people, 
are considerations of the first importance, and indispensable 
to a correct and safe decision. He looks upon history as a 
record of embodied principles, and not as a book of prece- 
dents. The policy that would be wise among one people, 
and under one form of government, is not, as a matter of 
course, suited to the situations and circumstances of another 
people, having a different form of government. In our opi- 
nion, there are two classes of politicians, very opposite in 
their character, who are equally remote from the true stan- 
dard of wisdom. The one consists of mere men of prece- 
dent, the blind and iri3iscrim1nating followers of any path, 
whether made by folly or wisdom ; and whether strewed with 
ruins, or covered with trophies : the other, of mere men of 
theory, who, regardless of the settled habits of the commu- 
nity, erect in their own minds an ideal phantom of perfec- 
tion, at whose voracious shrine, all existing establishments 



49 

are offered up, however endeared by habit, or consecrated'by 
time. Between these two extremes, we think Mr. Calhoun 
pursues that middle course, which wisdom indicates. He is 
aware, that all great masses, or communities of men, are, in 
a political point of view, beings of habit, and must, to a cer- 
tain extent, adhere to forms and establishments, merely be- 
cause they have long existed, and have become incorporated 
and intervolved with the structure of society ; but he is 
equally aware of the vicissitudes and progressive improve- 
jTient of human affairs, which indicate progressive and cor- 
responding improvements in human institutions, as the only 
means of avoiding sudden changes and bloody revolutions. 
His career, heretofore, has been of uncommon usefulness and 
celebrit}^, and furnishes the strongest grounds for the future 
expectations of his country. Since.Jie entered the national 
councils, his name has been identified with almost every im- 
portant measure adopted by the government. No man of 
his age, in any country, has rendered more signal services to 
the public ; none has more deservedly acquired an extended 
fame, embodied in so many noble monuments, and perpetu- 
ated by so many endearing national recollections. We may 
venture to predict, that while history preserves a faithful re- 
cord of the times in which he has acted, his name will be re- 
membered with pride, and his services with gratitude, by the 
nation that claims him as her son. 







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